Only in Chino
by funkycool
Summary: AU. Ryan and Summer are both fed up of the unholy rut that is Newport life, so they run away to Chino. But problems always catch up with you.


**Disclaimer: **I do not own any of the characters or anything O.C related

**A/N: **Erm, one I think this is an AU (but I'm not really sure what that is lol.), also this is not beta'd so like all mistakes and stuff I apologise now for.

Please (x100) review, you can state with you like and you don't like and I'll try and improve.

XXX

**Only In Chino**

**Part One**

Ryan sat alone on the bus. Escape. That was all he could think about, all he _really _wanted. He was expressively grateful for all the Cohens had done for him, they had taken him in. Given him a home, shown him the closest thing to a family. There was no doubt he was grateful; he just couldn't live in Newport anymore. He had to get away, and when things got tough for him he did what he knew. He ran. He switched on his iPod, the one Kirsten had given him even though he didn't want to take it, and played some Eminem.

One thing about Ryan.

He liked all kinds of music. From Jay-Z to Sublime. Nobody really knew that about him. Everyone just thought he listened to non-stop Journey and stayed in the pool house brooding.

He did.

Well, he did stay in the pool house a lot he didn't just listen to Journey and do nothing but brood.

He was a pretty cheerful guy.

Well he could be. It was just that he didn't talk a lot and most people misread this. His silence always had to mean something in Newport and that he wasn't used to. In Chino silence was golden. Silence could stop you getting the beating of your seedy life. Silence was usually the difference between getting high the next week or having the cops bust a cap in your ass.

He was used to silence. It was his thing.

XXX

Summer entered the bus. The _bus_! She had never taken the bus before in her life apart from that one time she and Marrisa bunked off school. They tried to run away for the week. After the first hour they were caught as the school had called home to say they weren't at lessons. After all they were only in 7th grade. Her daddy had grounded her which meant no weekly mani/pedicures, no cell, no pager, no Vera Wang dress. After that Summer never tried anything like that again. The bus was definitely _not _worth it.

But here she was, seventeen years of age about to start college. About to enter a bus. Looking for an exit. An escape. A way out of the broken-down Newpsie drama that was her life. And what better way to find it than running away.

She knew running away wouldn't solve _all _her problems.

Just some.

And there wasn't any harm in trying; maybe a clean break was just what she needed. Yeah, a fresh start…but a fresh start where? She didn't know where she was going. Really she had no place to go. O well, at least she had money.

That's all that really mattered, right?

Summer put some money into the ticket box before scanning the bus. It was quite empty and altogether dirty.

Ew!

There was some graffiti on the back wall and she could see some kind of red gland under most of the seats. Bubblegum maybe? No wonder why most people never used the public bus. She scanned again, squinting her eyes as if she were on some spy mission. There was an old lady, a mother and three children and a kinda hot looking blue eyed guy slouching deep into the chair in the corner. She looked again at the hot guy, who was wearing baggy black trousers and the black hoodie. He looked familiar. Blue eyes and sandy-blonde hair. Where had she seen sandy-blonde hair before? Hmmm… Cohen. Ryan? _Ryan_! Of course she thought. Ryan Atwood. Quickly she took her ticket and went to sit down.

That's how she came about on the public bus next to Ryan Atwood.

XXX

"Hey. Long time no see huh."

"Summer?" Ryan asked rightly surprised. He hadn't seen her in over a good six months now. After he went to Chino when there was the pregnancy with Theresa, he hadn't seen her at all. After she had lost the baby, it had taken longer for him to come back to Newport than everybody thought. "What are you doing here? On the _public _bus?"

"Running away. What are you doing here? On the _public_ bus?"

Ryan gave a little chuckle. He looked real good when he smiled.

"Same thing as you."

There was silence.

XXX

"_You've lost the baby?" Ryan asked again for the fifth time. It was hard to make out any of the words Theresa was saying, all he could hear was her sobbing._

"_I don't know what happened. I went for a check-up at the doctors and he said something was wrong but he wouldn't tell me."_

"_Shh, Theresa, baby, slow down. It's all right. Then what happened?"_

_Theresa sobbed even louder. Out of all things it most definitely wasn't all right. "Well I kept vomiting and then when I went back to the doctor he said…"_

"_What, what did he say?" Theresa buried her head into Ryan's chest._

"_He said that the baby died."_

_There was a moment of silence._

"_You know Ryan; you should really go back to Newport."_

_Ryan was torn and confused. Confused that Theresa could go from crying her eyes out to practically telling him to leave and go back to Newport and torn because he actually did want to go back. He missed the Cohens and everybody in Newport; and to be honest he didn't really want this baby; not that he wouldn't take care of the baby had he/she of been born. It's just he couldn't take on the responsibility of being a father and a having a child when he was still a child himself. Theresa was actually telling him to go back, here was his opportunity, but funny how whenever you wanted to say something it never came out that way._

"_No, it's all right. I should stay." _

_Theresa gave him a you-don't-have-to-do-this look. He could tell by her face that she knew he wanted to go so he denied all her fears._

"_No, really you don't have to stay…"_

_And he really didn't, but sweet Ryan, he always did the right thing._

"_Shhh… I want to." _

XXX

"So, oh my god Ryan. It's been long. I kinda missed you."

"I, erm, missed you too."

Summer gave him a look. He was probably lying, but then she wouldn't blame him either. She wouldn't exactly be thinking of him if she had to deal with working a greasy construction job and having a teenage pregnancy.

She continued anyway.

"So… how is everything with you?"

"O you know…fine."

"If everything is fine how comes you're on a bus. Running away?"

There was a moment of silence again. Summer didn't mean for that to come out so cold .

Hard-hitting.

After a pause, Ryan spoke up again.

"So…how's Seth?"

"Seth?" Summer laughed. "Me and Seth broke up a long time ago."

"O… Sorry."

"Don't. It's not your fault. You weren't even there."

"Okay…how's Marissa?"

"Marissa? Don't know. Don't care."

"You don't speak to her anymore?"

"Nope. Not since the whole Trey fiasco."

Ryan winced at Trey's name. Summer felt bad, so bad for him. He was still healing from his brother's death.

He'd probably gone through more drama than most thirty- year olds. First, with Marissa, then her and Oliver, his mum, the Cohens, Theresa and her dead baby, and now knowing that it was his own ex-girlfriend that shot and killed his brother. His whole life seemed to be one big soap drama.

It was a good thing he didn't know why she was running away. It would just add more to his problems.

XXX

"_Seth! Marissa! What the fuck!"_

_Summer quickly looked to and fro the naked teenagers. When she had went away with the step mom for a week, she thought Seth would be a little lonely or whatever and yeah, maybe a little sad._

_She never expected this. For her to come in and see him doing her best, well ex- best friend._

"_I can explain…" Seth mumbled as he threw Marissa her clothes and wore his boxers._

"_Yeah, sure. You and Marissa just happened to be on top of each other. Butt naked but not doing anything. Not really!"_

"_I…"_

"_What? And now you're going to tell me that really, it's not what it looks like." Summer rolled her eyes and then noticed Marissa who was still sat in the corner crying._

"_What Marissa? Why are you crying? It's **my** boyfriend you've been fucking! Bitch"_

"_Sorry…" Marissa tried to speak but only cried louder._

"_Shut up! And you, **Cohen**, don't ever try and speak to me again because I don't wanna hear anything that comes out of your silly little mouth!"_

_With that Summer slammed angrily out of the Cohens house._

_Aaarghhh! Rage Blackout! She threw one of their little front door ornaments; it crashed with a loud thud! Giving her satisfaction._

_She went into her jeep and quietly put her head against the steering wheel._

_Get a grip Summer, don't bother crying. They are **so** not worth it._

_Five minutes later Summer's phone rang. She quickly picked it up._

"_Summer it's me, Cohen. Don't hang up. Look I know I've hurt you a lot but I never meant to. I mean you were gone for the whole week and Marissa was upset about Trey…everything. If you could just come back over then we can talk and sort this out. I'm sorry, so sorry and it was a very stupid mistake. I'm just a stupid Cohen."_

_Summer cut him off half-babble._

"_Look idiot, I don't care whether her mum had died or whatever. The fact is you still slept with her. Fucked my own best friend. Boyfriends don't screw their girlfriends over and I've put up with enough crap from you and her anyway. Don't try and call me again because I won't pick up. It's over. Ass!"_

_Summer dropped the phone and drove out of the Cohen mansion._

_Where the fuck had it all gone wrong? She didn't understand. They had just got back together. She waited for him when he had gone off on his stupid little boat to Tahiti or Portland or whatever, and he couldn't even wait one week?_

_O well, at least she would have a new boyfriend and best friend._

_Mr Ben & Jerry._

XXX

"Sorry… I didn't mean to bring up the whole Trey thing." Summer turned in her seat so she was facing him.

"It's okay. It's not your fault."

"So where are you gonna go anyway?"

"I'm going to go and stay in Chino for a while."

"Chino? Why would you want to go back to Chino?"

Summer paused and thought about what she had just said. "I didn't mean to sound rude."

"No, it's okay. I know what you mean, but then Newport has memories as well. Yeah, in Chino there's Theresa and my 'bad' childhood but it's still my home."

"And you have no other to place to go."

"Yeah and that." Ryan gave a small chuckle. "So where are you going?"

Summer looked down at her feet. She didn't really have anywhere to go.

"Wait, let me guess. You have no place to go."

Summer looked up at him. Maybe now that he knew she could ask him to take her with him.

"And now you're going to ask if I can take you with me."

"Ryan, please?"

Ryan shook his head. "Summer I can't."

"Why not?"

"I can't take you to Chino with me."

"Why!"

Summer would just have to get aggressive. If Ryan didn't take her she would have no place to go. Come to think of it she was lucky she saw him on the bus in the first place.

"Because, I…we hardly know each other."

And that wasn't particularly a lie either. In Newport the only time he really spoke to her was when he was with Seth or about Marissa. That wasn't very much.

"That isn't true and presides we can get to know each other. I'm not taking no for an answer."

"I..."

"**You** don't have to be so difficult. Look if its money you're worried about then don't because I have plenty. You don't have to look after me or whatever. Just take me with you."

Ryan gave her skeptical look, he was still thinking. Summer continued her argument.

"Look all I know is that I can't go back to Newport, with all the shit and the drama and the 'step mom'. And I know it was kind of dumb me getting on a public bus without really thinking it through but you're here aren't you. You're my best option out of here right now. My **only** option."

Ryan sighed in defeat, he knew Summer had won, she was going to come with him whether he liked it or not and she had a point. He knew what it was like to go through so much shit.

That's why he was running away himself.

On the bright side he would at least have a little company.

How bad could it really be?

Summer smiled to herself. She could be feisty when she wanted; and at least now she had someplace to go. Even if it was Chino.

It couldn't be that bad.

XXX

**A/N: **Okay, that's part one, part two is coming soon.  
Please REVIEW!


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